


XF Friday Nights 3: J. Edgar, Junior

by ML_is_me



Series: XF Friday Nights [3]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, XF Friday Nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 01:11:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10888722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ML_is_me/pseuds/ML_is_me
Summary: It's not where you're going, it's how youget there that matters. This is the third story in anexploration of the early seasons.  They are looselytied together but can be read as standalones aswell.





	XF Friday Nights 3: J. Edgar, Junior

Baltimore Field Office, FBI

 

Tom Colton straightened his tie and his shoulders  
as the elevator door opened. He always enjoyed the  
walk through the bullpen to the incident room. It  
was something to be assigned to a high-profile  
case. His career was on track.

 

If you want to be a blue-flamer, act like a blue-  
flamer, was his motto. He strode confidently  
through the bullpen.

 

"Hey Tom," one of the agents called. He inclined  
his head slightly, acknowledging the greeting, but  
not returning it, the picture of a man focused on  
his case.

 

This could be the making of him. He would do  
whatever it took to crack this case. Maybe he  
wasn't in the New York office, Like Marty Neal, but  
he was closer to DC. 

 

ASAC Fuller was already there. Damn. He'd wanted  
to be first. He might not be a toady, bringing in  
coffee and doughnuts to curry favor, but he wanted  
to show that he was on the ball. That he had what  
it takes.

 

"Colton." Fuller greeted him. "Anything new?"

 

What, in my sleep? Colton thought. But aloud, he  
said, "I'm going over the reports again, Sir. Just  
want to make sure I'm not missing anything."

 

"I'm not sure there's anything to miss, Colton,"  
Fuller said. "No discernable point of entry, no  
murder weapon...I think we might need a little  
assistance on this one. Violent Crimes still has  
Agent Mulder on call." He grimaced. "If we can  
tear him away from watching the skies, that is."

 

Oh no. Colton could see his rapid rise up the  
ladder slowing to a crawl. It was like admitting  
defeat to ask for help, but even worse to call in  
"Spooky" Mulder. Here was a guy who by all  
accounts was extremely talented, first in his  
class, the fastest rising star in the FBI. And he  
pissed it all away. He didn't want to be  
associated with that train wreck, in any way,  
shape, or form.

 

"It's no shame to call in outside help," Fuller  
said, seeing his expression. "Sure, Mulder has a  
rep for being kind of 'out there,' but he can still  
read a crime scene like no one else."

 

Colton thought quickly. He didn't want to appear  
uncooperative to his superior, but there had to be  
a way to salvage this situation.

 

"Actually, I have someone I'd like to talk to,  
informally," he said. "She has a forensic  
background, and she might have some insight. Let  
me talk to her first."

 

"Who's that?" Fuller asked.

 

"Dana Scully. She has a medical background, and  
might have ended up in the VCS herself but they  
decided she was too valuable in the Forensics Unit  
at Quantico."

 

"Yeah, I know her name -- she's partnered with  
Mulder now, isn't she?" Fuller had a half-smile on  
his face. "And partners talk to each other -- way  
to get Mulder's expertise without asking him. Nice  
move."

 

Colton flushed a little. "I think she might like  
the opportunity to do some real work for a change,  
Sir. We'll do ourselves a favor while giving Agent  
Scully a chance to see how a real investigation is  
run."

 

"Sure, Colton, go ahead. Invite your friend to the  
crime scene, and we'll see what happens."

 

x-x-x

 

Colton watched as Dana Scully walked away. He was  
pretty sure that she'd go running to Spooky with  
this. If she didn't, no harm, no foul; Dana would  
still put in more hours and thought on the profile  
than all the team members combined. 

 

He couldn't figure out how she got stuck partnering  
the FBI's resident crackpot. It wasn't because she  
wasn't good at her job; in fact, strings had been  
pulled to keep her at Quantico as a teacher and  
rumors had her on the fast track to head the  
Forensics Unit one day.

 

Of course, there were other rumors about Dana  
Scully and one of the guest instructors at  
Quantico. He knew better than to bring that up.  
Dana didn't talk about anything she didn't want to  
talk about, and you didn't stay friends with her if  
you tried to make her. He didn't want to piss her  
off too much; she might still be useful. 

 

Lately, he'd heard through the grapevine that she'd  
been asking for a field assignment. She wanted  
some hands-on investigative experience. Pairing  
her with Spooky Mulder was probably a good move in  
that case. He wouldn't get her hurt or killed, but  
he'd probably drive her right back to Quantico.  
Dana Scully was very by-the-book and by all  
accounts Mulder was not.

 

And yet she actually defended him, calling him a  
"great agent." Maybe she was just trying to save  
face, put the best possible light on her  
assignment. He'd knocked Dana off her high horse  
just a bit when he told her everyone was calling  
her "Mrs. Spooky."

 

That wasn't strictly true, at least not yet. He'd  
thought it up on the spur of the moment. He'd  
always been the one to come up with the clever  
nicknames, the ones that stuck. Like J. Edgar,  
Junior. He couldn't wait until Marty Neal fell on  
his ass, and he was sure it would happen. The guy  
wasn't that smart, he just caught a lucky break.

 

He got out his phone and called ASAC Fuller.

 

"So how'd you do with your friend? Is she going to  
talk to Spooky?" His boss asked.

 

"They're meeting us at the crime scene tomorrow  
morning," Colton replied. He couldn't lose here.  
If Mulder got too spooky, he could say he hadn't  
asked for his help, just talked to a former  
classmate about the case. If Mulder came up with  
anything helpful or significant, he'd already made  
it clear to Dana that this was his case, and he'd  
get the credit for the solve.

 

x-x-x

 

Usher Crime Scene

 

He began to have regrets almost as soon as Mulder  
walked in the door. Mulder looked like an ordinary  
enough guy, looked him straight in the eyes, firm  
handshake, all that. Then he started acting weird,  
answering his comment about "little green men" in a  
serious way. It wasn't until later that he  
realized Mulder was pulling his leg. What a guy,  
making jokes at a crime scene. He focused on, of  
all things, the vent. He pretended to find  
something there. Dana seemed to take it all in  
stride. Honestly, how did she work with this guy?

 

Well, if she did well with the profile, he'd talk  
to Fuller about requesting her transfer. They'd  
make a good team. Dana was so thorough, and worked  
so hard, and she'd owe him. Fuller would be  
pleased, too. Another win-win for him.

 

x-x-x

 

Baltimore Field Office

 

"I had a reaction to that stupid question!"

 

Colton looked on with satisfaction as his superior  
ripped Mulder a new one. Just as he'd figured,  
Mulder had done his best to take over the  
investigation. He'd been there at the arrest, and  
somehow managed to get a couple of questions into  
the lie detector session.

 

But Mulder screwed himself up, putting forward some  
crazy story to try and make the case against Tooms  
stick. Nothing he said made any sense. Colton  
tuned him out entirely.

 

Dana might still be worth salvaging, but she turned  
down the opportunity to keep working with his team.  
Incredible. Didn't she get it? Mulder was poison,  
a career-killer. How could Dana turn down a chance  
to work with the VCS over working with Mulder?

 

Now they were back at Square One. No suspect, no  
meaningful evidence, only Dana's profile, which may  
or may not have been tainted by Mulder's ridiculous  
theories.

 

He was sorry for Dana, he really was, but she said  
she could look after herself. She was going to  
have to, because after this, there wouldn't be many  
people willing to stick their necks out for her.

 

x-x-x

 

The call came as he was driving in to work the next  
day. Another murder, same M.O.

 

Somehow, this was Mulder's fault. He filled Dana's  
head with nonsense, caused her to write a faulty  
profile. Mulder's insistence that her profile was  
correct, and Dana's continued support of Mulder,  
was all the evidence Colton needed. 

 

He'd gotten so tired of the legend of "Spooky  
Mulder" at the Academy. So many instructors would  
invoke Fox Mulder's holy name and they used real  
examples of profiles that the Boy Wonder had  
written, that helped catch this one or that one.  
Maybe he was great at one time, but not any more. 

 

When he got to the scene, the Baltimore PD  
detectives were already there. They gave Colton  
sidelong glances as they went about their  
investigation. He could feel his authority  
slipping away.

 

To make matters worse, here was Mulder and Dana  
again. He ignored Mulder, who had the gall to  
ignore him right back.

 

But Dana would not be ignored. She took Mulder's  
part again, and accused _him_ of not cooperating!

 

"Whose side are you on?" Colton asked.

 

Dana said simply, "The victim's."

 

As if he didn't care about the victim. Of course  
he did -- how else would he crack this case?

 

Back in the incident room, he reviewed the case  
notes, even Mulder's, looking for anything he could  
hang a theory on. It was all going to hell. Even  
the SAC was looking at him funny. When he walked  
through the bullpen, no one said a word.

 

The next day, it went from bad to worse. When they  
were all gathered in the incident room, someone  
brought up the surveillance detail.

 

"What surveillance detail?" Colton asked.

 

"You didn't order it?" Fuller asked.

 

"Who are we surveiling?" Colton asked, as if he had  
so many going on, he wasn't sure which one they  
were referring to.

 

"Eugene Victor Tooms. You didn't order it?"  
Fuller repeated.

 

Damn that Mulder. "No, and I think it's a waste of  
manpower," he said decisively. "Call everyone back  
in. I'll deal with this."

 

When Dana showed up later, he told her exactly what  
he thought of her flouting his express wishes that  
they stay out of his way. Dana, however, was  
unmoved, even accusing _him_ of obstruction.

 

Maybe she was better suited to be Mulder's partner  
than he realized. They both were so sure of  
themselves -- always thinking they were right about  
everything.

 

If so, they deserved each other, but he wasn't  
going to let them ruin his investigation. As Dana  
left the room, he called Mulder to tell him the  
surveillance was off.

 

"This is Fox Mulder, I'm not in. Leave a message."

 

Even his voice mail was cocky. Colton elected not  
to leave a message. Let him find out when he  
showed up for his shift, and no one was there.  
Maybe he'd blame Dana for screwing things up.

 

Yeah, they deserved each other. That was the last  
time he'd offer to help Dana out. Since she  
insisted on taking care of herself, he'd let her.  
When her spooky partner let her down, she'd find  
out how wrong she'd been to trust him.

 

x-x-x

 

Baltimore Field Office

 

The next morning, he was the first one in the  
incident room for once. He sipped his coffee,  
studying the crime scene photos tacked on the wall,  
the picture of the concerned agent when Fuller  
walked in.

 

"I guess you didn't hear," Fuller said.

 

"What?" asked Colton.

 

"Tooms was caught in Agent Scully's apartment last  
night. Attempted assault. According to her, he  
went after her liver _with his bare hands_."

 

Suddenly his coffee cup was too hot to handle. He  
set it down with an unsteady hand. "This is a  
joke, right? Who put you up to this?"

 

"I don't have all the details yet, but Tooms is  
locked up. Agent Mulder found something at the  
suspect's residence that led him to believe Agent  
Scully was in danger. He arrived at her apartment  
just in time to witness the assault himself."

 

"And you believe this story?" Colton asked  
incredulously.

 

Fuller looked at him for a long moment. "Are you  
accusing a fellow agent of lying?"

 

"No, Sir, of course not," Colton replied. 

 

"Look, I'm no happier about this than you are," his  
boss said. "We let the guy go, and it turns out  
that he may well be the perp. And you called off  
the surveillance."

 

"We did everything by the book," Colton insisted.  
"We had no evidence, nothing to hold him on but  
Mulder's 'theory'."

 

"Well, I guess he's earned his nickname all over  
again," Fuller said. "Maybe you owe him an  
apology."

 

Colton paced around the incident room. How did  
everything go south so fast? There was no way he  
could have known. It wasn't his fault. And there  
was no way in hell he'd ever apologize to Mulder.  
Or Dana, for that matter. Why should he take the  
fall when he'd followed procedure, did everything  
he was supposed to do? Really, Mulder should thank  
him. If he'd actually left the message for Mulder,  
he probably wouldn't have gone to the scene,  
wouldn't have found the evidence that led him to  
Dana's apartment...

 

...and maybe Dana would be dead by now.

 

Nah. It wouldn't have happened that way. Dana  
could take care of herself, she said so. If Mulder  
hadn't shown up, she would have had the collar, and  
Mulder would have been left in the cold.

 

Mulder wasn't that smart, he just got lucky. And  
one day when he wasn't, and fell on his ass, Colton  
hoped he'd be around to see it. And Dana, too.

 

end.


End file.
